It was a pleasant day in Manhattan, the sun shining, the birds chirping, and an almost perfectly blue sky. There were oddly less cars than usual, making for a rather quiet day, but no-one minded the strange quiet. In fact it was welcomed by most. The rest were people used to the busy sounds of the city, people that hated the quiet, and craved opportunities.
One of those people was Sam, who was lying in the middle of the park near her house, laying in the grass and waiting for something interesting to happen. It seemed however, that Sam had found the most boring part of the city to be in, because the most interesting thing she had seen all day was some clouds that looked kind of like diamonds. She lay in the grass for a few moments more, before slowly rising to her feet and walking towards her apartment. There's no place like home after all.
Carousel Boutique was lively with movement, fabric and tools flying around slowly forming beautiful dresses. At the centre of this organised storm was a white pony, mane frizzled and glasses tilted. She had promised to make her friends dresses for the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala (Now that they were allowed back) and so she was working her hardest to make them look perfect.
After a few hours more of this, the fabric and tools settled into place on desktops and the pony in the centre of the room finally relaxed. She had planned to go out with her friends for a picnic, and then finish the Dresses tomorrow. A knocking came from the door of the Boutique, followed by a quiet voice:
"Hello? Rarity, are you coming to the picnic? I wouldn't want you to be late..."
The door was illuminated in a light blue glow, before opening.
"Of course I'm coming Fluttershy dear, just let me fix my mane and we'll be off!" She said, walking towards the stairs levitating a brush behind her.
"Make yourself at home of course darling, I'll only be a few moments."
Sam had returned to her apartment, and was sitting on the couch watching My Little Pony. She hadn't told anybody, but she actually loved the show, her favourite character being Pinkie Pie. She had a few figures sitting on her desk, and she had several tabs open on her laptop with unread fanfics waiting to be read. But that could wait. The latest episode was on, and the lack of cars outside made it just a bit more fun. She watched a few more episodes before moving onto her computer. She had been reading a lot of Human in Equestria stories, if not to just laugh at how little sense they made. How would a human even get to Equestria? And why would they live there, completely forgetting their friends and family? Sure, Sam didn't have many of either, but she would still miss them none the less.
After a while Sam figured she would go to bed. After watching that many episodes of My Little Pony, anyone would feel tired. AND she had walked all the way to the park and back, so she felt deserving of a break.
Just as she dozed off, a bright green flash came from under her bedroom door.
It hadn't taken long, but Rarity's mane had been restored to it's normal shape. She descended the stairs to her work room where Fluttershy was waiting. After returning her brush to the desk she slipped on her favourite scarf.
"Right then, off we go! Opalescence dear, Fluttershy will be back later, I'm sure."
Said cat scowled, before jumping to the floor and walking away, head held high. Fluttershy stood up and started towards the door, already ready for the picnic.
"I hope they haven't started without us, it would be terribly rude to show up when everyone is almost finished..."
Rarity placed a hoof on her friends shoulder.
"Darling, you know they wouldn't start without us, it would be even ruder of them to start without us. Now come along, we wouldn't want them to wait would we?"
Both ponies left the house and headed for the girls favourite picnic hill to catch up with each other and enjoy a nice lunch.
Soon, the day had grown old, and the sky had grown darker. Almost everypony had gone home, except Rarity, who had stayed a while to admire the stars, before heading home. Moments before entering her home however, she heard a thump from upstairs, followed by a disappointed sigh. Sweetie Belle was most likely practising her magic again. Rarity walked into the Boutique and called up the stairs.
"Sweetie Belle? Is everything ok up there?"
A light scuffle was heard, before the filly left her room.
"Yeah, everything's fine up here! How was the picnic?"
Rarity's eyes squinted slightly. She had a feeling Sweetie was hiding something, but she wasn't sure.
"The picnic was fun, thank you for asking. Are you sure everything is ok dear? I heard a bang from outside."
Sweetie's eyes flicked around the room for a moment, almost as if she was looking for an excuse.
"Um, yes, everything is fine, like I said! Just practising some levitation."
"Well then if you say so. But for now, it's getting late, so we should both go to bed, don't you think?"
The young filly yawned, but closed her mouth quickly.
"But Rarityyyyy, I'm not tired!"
The fashionista chuckled.
"If you say so Darling. Just remember to go to sleep before nine, I don't want you to ruin your little crusaders meeting tomorrow."
Sweetie smiled ear to ear.
"Thanks Rarity, you're the best!"
After Rarity had made sure her sister was safe in her room, she crawled into bed.
"Well Rarity, you've had a busy day, but tomorrow will be busier! The girls dresses must be finished soon, or they'll never be ready for the Gala."
As Rarity slipped into a deep sleep, a bright green light flashed through Sweetie's windows, followed by the same flash in Rarity's room.
Sam awoke the next day feeling incredibly well rested, and a lot more comfortable in her bed than usual. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, and was just enjoying the quiet morning. Not long after she awoke however, her cat began poking her, needing food.
"Peanut Butter, I'll get you food late-" She stopped. That was definitely not her voice. She cleared her throat and tried again.
"I'll get you food in a bi-" There it was again. Definitely not a Manhattan accent. WAY more British. She opened her eyes for the first time that morning. So this wasn't her room either. Looking forward confirmed that the cat sitting in-front of her was indeed not her cat Peanut Butter, but instead a white cat with a bow...
"Huh... That's weird, last time I checked I was an american in a cheap apartment... And talk about a headache... What did I do last night..."
She raised a hand to her head and rubbed her forehead, but stopped.
This isn't my hand. My hand has fingers, which means something happened to me, right?
Slowly opening her eyes once again confirmed something odd. Instead of hands, she had slightly furry stubs, almost like- Hooves.
After staring at her new hooves for a while, she realised she couldn't sit there all day. She had to find out what had happened. Sam lowered herself to the floor, being careful not to trip over herself. After awkwardly wobbling towards the bathroom, she opened the door with some (a lot of) difficulty.
Outside Carousel Boutique, anyone near enough could hear loud screams coming from within. And one pony did happen to be just close enough, and that pony was one of Rarity's best friends.
Ok, think. This has gotta just be an incredibly lucid dream, right? There's no way it could have happened, I was reading fanfics of this just last night!
Suddenly a loud knocking came from the door, and rather fast.
Oh no... Think Sam, how do you deal with this sorta thing? Aha!
"I'll be right there darling!"
Ok, this is probably going to go horribly, but I'm sure I can keep it up long enough to get rid of them...
Sam trotted offbalanced down the stairs to the main room, and opened the door, revealing Pinkie Pie, still knocking on thin-air. A moment passed and Pinkie noticed Sam.
"Oh, hi there Rarity! I heard screaming so I thought I'd come check up on you!"
Of course. Of all the ponies to visit, it's the one that'll figure me out the fastest...
"Ahem. Um, everything is fine dear, nothing to worry about! I just ruined some rather nice fabric is all. I'm fine, I promise."
"Oh, ok! They sounded more like screams of fear and disbelief, but if you say so!"
Does that mean she bought it?
"But hey, do you wanna go to Sugar Cube Corner? I know you're on a diet and all, but I just wanted to show you something!"
Sam almost coughed. Hoping Pinkie would have just left was a naive thought indeed.
"Um... Of course I'll go Pinkie. Just let me get ready, and I'll be out."
_____________________________________________________________
Rarity was having trouble staying asleep, due to her mattress suddenly becoming incredibly uncomfortable. She rolled around a bit more, before deciding to get up. A cat meowed from across the room, clearly demanding feeding.
"Hold on darling, I'll feed you in a moment." She grumbled, her half awake mind not registering the change in voice.
She rolled over, and instead of lifting the blankets off of her and falling to the floor as usual, she ended up in a mess on the floor.
"What in the...? Why isn't my horn wor-" The fall had woken her up, and thus she noticed the new voice. Her horn was on the fritz and her voice had changed, but what else had happened? Upon looking down, Rarity let out a very unladylike screech, noticing the new appendages at the ends of her legs. What were these again? Spikey Wikey had them, but these were less sharp. Perhaps they were those hands Lyra always went on about. But why would Rarity have them? And why weren't they covered in her glorious white coat?
After a brief screaming session with the bathroom mirror, Rarity rather dramatically threw herself onto the nearest available couch. Ok, so now she was one of Lyra's 'Humans'. She hadn't paid much attention during Lyra's speech, so she had little to no idea as to what she was doing with this body. First thing first however, she had to figure out how to walk properly. There weren't going to be walls everywhere she went, and so she needed to work out how to walk without them. She pulled herself up with the arm of the couch and slowly stood up. She had to be careful, just getting to the bathroom had been torture. She took one step... And immediately landed on the floor.
"Hmph. If that's how this is going to happen, then I shall just have to take tinier steps!"
After at least three hours, Rarity could walk normally, although just a bit wobbly. Whatever it was, it was progress, and it felt good.
"Nothing can keep the great Rarity down, not even this! Oh dear, I should probably feed that cat, I wouldn't want the poor dear to starve..."
Carefully, she managed to get over to the counter and find the cans and can opener. As she opened the can, she smelt the unforgiving stench of tuna. Luckily Opal wouldn't go near the stuff, but it seemed this cat had other ideas.
"Now then, what are you called? Oh, there we are! Peanut Butter hmm? Well you're safer to be around than Opal I suppose."
